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Physics A Level Induction OCR

This document provides an overview of the structure and expectations of an A Level physics course. It discusses the course structure, homework expectations of spending as much time studying independently as in lessons, and organizing notes in folders. It also covers Fermi calculations to estimate quantities, appreciating scale through orders of magnitude, and examples like estimating the circumference of the Earth. Students are encouraged to join the Institute of Physics for resources and community. The document provides practice with units, prefixes, equations, and standard form.

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220 views22 pages

Physics A Level Induction OCR

This document provides an overview of the structure and expectations of an A Level physics course. It discusses the course structure, homework expectations of spending as much time studying independently as in lessons, and organizing notes in folders. It also covers Fermi calculations to estimate quantities, appreciating scale through orders of magnitude, and examples like estimating the circumference of the Earth. Students are encouraged to join the Institute of Physics for resources and community. The document provides practice with units, prefixes, equations, and standard form.

Uploaded by

sciencedocsman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Physics A Level Induction

• Course structure
• Expectations
• HW
• Time spent studying
• Notes (folders)
• Fermi calculations
• Appreciating scale
Planning A Level
Implementing
Analysis Course
Evaluation
Structure
A Level
Course
Structure
Expectations
• Homework
– Why is it set?
– How should it be done?
• Independent study
– As much time on your own as in the lesson
• Organisation/ notes
– Folders

OR ?
Join the IoP!
http://www.iop.org/
http://members.iop.org/16-19.asp
16-19 student membership
Aged between 16-19 and studying physics?
Join the Institute of Physics for free and receive:
• Regular updates on what’s new in physics
• Exam and university guidance
• Information about careers from physics
• The chance to interact with other young physicists
• By joining the IOP not only will you become part of the UK’s largest
physics community, but you will also get full access to Physics
World online and physicsworld.com. 
Fermi questions
The Nobel-prize-winning physicist, Enrico Fermi, came up with this
simple and intuitive way to deduce the circumference of the earth. 

1. How many time zones do you pass through when you fly from New
York to Los Angeles?
3
2. How many miles is it, about, over that same distance?
about 3000
3. How many miles per time zone, on average?
about 1000
4. How many time zones must there be around the world?
24 because there are 24 hours in a day
5. How many miles around the world?
24 time zones x 1000 miles per time zone = 24000 miles
Yes, it is about 24000 miles around the world
Fermi questions
1. How many pieces of popcorn does it take to
fill a room?

2. How fast does human hair grow (in km/hr)?


Orders of Magnitude
Powers of ten
Scale of the universe

-1.60 x 1 -19
0 C
-23 Jkg -1
10 8 ms-1
1.38 x 3.00 x 1 0
6.63 x 10-34 Js
9.11 x 10 -31 k
g
k
13m 1.50 x 1011 m
x 1 0
3.99
Making a microbalance
Piece of card to
write scale on
(held to block of
Screw screwed wood with elastic
into the end of bands)
the straw
Block of wood to
support card
scale
Needle through
the straw
Straw with
“scoop” cut into
Microscope slides the end
carefully held in
place with
plastecine/ blutac
Making a microbalance
To think about:
• Why is it important to have a scale?
• How will you make your scale? (prefix?)
• What is the smallest mass the balance can
measure?
• What order of magnitude is this balance capable
of measuring to?
• What objects could this balance measure the
mass of?
• How precise/ reliable/ accurate is the balance?
Prefix practice
1. Give 2440000Hz in
MHz
2. Give 2.3 x 10-3m in
mm
3. Give 0.005 x 10-3A in
µA
4. Give 5350000 x 104 W
in GW
To finish- mini whiteboards
1. What is the precision of a
thermometer?
+/- 0.5 oC (or K)
2. What are reliable results?
Results that are all close to the same pattern/
repeat results that are similar in value/
repeatable results
3. What does accuracy mean?
Close to the “true” value
Units
List all the units you can think of that are used
for physical quantities
• 2 minutes, the person with the most correct
answers wins
– Units with different prefixes won’t be counted as
separate answers (e.g. mm, cm, m, km…)
William Thomson (later known
as Lord Kelvin) What are SI units?
• The international system of units (Le Système
international d’unités)
• Only 7, all other units (derived units, e.g. Newtons)
are based on these:
SI Base Unit Quantity
metre (m) Length
kilogram (kg) Mass Clerk
James
second (s) Time
Maxwell
ampere (A) Electric current
kelvin (k) Temperature
mole (mol) Amount of substance
candela (cd) Luminous intensity

• We will be using the top 5 most frequently on the


course
Why is a common system for units so
important?
On September 23, 1999 NASA lost the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter
spacecraft after a 286-day journey to Mars. Miscalculations due to the use of
English units instead of metric units apparently sent the craft slowly off
course - 60 miles in all. Thrusters used to help point the spacecraft had, over
the course of months, been fired incorrectly because data used to control
the wheels were calculated in incorrect units. Lockheed Martin, which was
performing the calculations, was sending thruster data in English units
(pounds) to NASA, while NASA's navigation team was expecting metric units
(Newtons).

A solid rocket booster is ordered with the specification that it is to produce a


total of 10 million pounds of thrust. If this number is mistaken for the thrust
in Newtons, by how much, in pounds, will the thrust be in error? (1 pound =
4.5 Newtons)

http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/weekly/6Page53.pdf
Answer: 10,000,000 'Newtons' x ( 1 pound /
4.448 Newtons) = 2,200,000 pounds instead of
10 million pounds so the error is a 'missing'
7,800,000 pounds of thrust…an error that would
definitely be noticed at launch!!!
Derived units- demo
1. How is 1 Joule represented in SI base units?

How confident are you


with rearranging
equations and using
indices?
Derived units
1. How is 1 Newton represented in SI base
units?

2. What are the SI base units for ‘k’ in the


expression Force = k x change in length (F =
kΔx)?

How confident are you


with rearranging
equations and using
indices?
Derived units
3. What are the SI base units for the young
modulus, E.
E = σ/ε where
– Stress σ = Force/Area = F/A
– Strain ε = change in length/length = Δ x/x
Prefixes
Used for convenience when dealing with larger
or smaller quantities

How confident
are you with
standard
form?

http://physics.nist.go
v/cuu/Units/prefixes.
html
Prefix practice
1. Give 2440000Hz in
MHz
2. Give 2.3 x 10-3m in
mm
3. Give 0.005 x 10-3A in
µA
4. Give 5350000 x 104 W
in GW
On a post-it

1. One word: How do you feel after this session?


2. What are you looking forward to about
studying A level physics?
3. What are you not looking forward to?

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